This is a random personal blog - covering everything from poetry to politics. Views presented are strictly my own.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Fortis Hospital, Noida

Started my day with this. Sad, and yet, one is so used to medical negligence that one is not even surprised any more. And am not sure which is more sad - the deaths or our absolute lack of surprise at them. I think its the latter.*********************

Dear All,

Please forward to all.

With deep regret I want to inform you the demise of my wife Rupali Sharma on 17th July due to post operative complication after brain surgery.

I would also like to bring to your notice how private hospitals like FORTIS are robbing people of their life and money. Please be very careful while dealing with such hospitals. Find below the details of my experience with Fortis Noida.

My wife age 29 ( occupation- trainer with HCL) was diagnosed with a non malignant brain tumor on 17th June2011. She did not have any major symptoms like headache, eye problem or vomiting. She was suggested surgery for removal of tumor. We took opinions from Max, Indo Gulf and finally decided on Fortis because of the good reputation of Dr. A K Singh.

Doctors did not make us aware that it is a very complicated surgery and said that there are only incidental risks. "Amount of risk involved is same as the risk when you come from your home to hospital"

On the date of admission I pointed out several times that my wife was having severe cough and cold. It was ignored by doctors saying "Everything is perfect". Later on Dr Sanjay Gupta admitted that this could have led to infection.How could they ignore it? Moreover the doctor preponed the surgery by one day because he had to go outside India.We were totally unaware of that. Why did not they postpone the surgery instead?

From day one the team did not have any consensus on how the tumor will be removed. They said that they will try from nose first , if not they will cut open the skull. On the day of operation (8th July)they said after 5 hrs that they could not extract tumor through nose so .. they will open the skull. My dear wife had to go through both the procedures. The whole operation took 12 hrs.

Post operative care is pathetic. Why was my wife given sandwich and chole chawal in ICU after next day of such a major surgery?My wife vomitted on 13 July morning and was drowsy. We immediately alarmed the doctors on duty. But they ignored the situation saying that everything is normal. In the evening she was perspiring, We again alarmed doctors on duty but no action was taken. If the doctors have been proactive they could have saved my wife.

By 14th morning the condition had deteriorated and doctors took her to ICU and put her on ventilator saying it is not required but as a precaution they were doing it.The worst part is that senior doctors A K Singh and Sanjeev Dua went out of country on that day. We tried to reach them through various means but they were not available for next 3 days. (How could they leave two patients in such a serious condition?There was another patient with similar case in ICU who also died )

Doctors who were available ( Vikas Gupta, Bundela, Sanjay Gupta ) acted like bunch of idiots. They could not diagnose the problem and condition deteriorated every day. There was total lack of leadership and no team work at all. Each doctor gave a different reason for the problem ( lung infection, hypo perfusion, brain infection none of which was confirmed by the time of death). On 14th July, doctors were saying that there is lung infection but they had not called any lung specialist. It is only when we suggested , they called an expert? Why did not they call the experts on their own?

On 16th July Dr. Vivek Chawla was instructed to update us the condition by 7:00 am in morning. However we were not informed till 11:00 Am that she had a cardiac arrest at 4:00 am. My wife's cousin (who is a doctor in AIIMS) visited Fortis Neuro ICU on 17th July , he told me that my wife was already dead. After he left , hospital declared dead my wife. Otherwise they would have continued with ventilator for god knows how many days. One of the lady doctor in ICU very shamefully admitted that there was negligence on part of doctors.

The hospital has international standards in only the exorbitant rated they charge. They gave me an estimate of 2.5 lakhs to cure my wife and charged Rs 5.5 lakhs for her deadbody. We were never communicated that the charges had gone beyond the estimate. How could they expect us to deposit more than double the amount at the time of death on a Sunday evening?

There was no doctor from Neurosurgery team available when the death was declared. When we shouted at the authorities they were quick enough to call the police within minutes. But they could not get any doctor to confirm the cause of death or at least give a condolence message as a human gesture. We had to immediately arrange double the estimated cost, otherwise they would not give us the dead body.

We had a meeting with hospital management and team of doctors on 4th Aug. Where doctors accepted majority of our allegations. We demanded a return of the extra money paid and action against doctors. Director Mr Sukhmeet Sandhu assured a response by phone in two days. After 8 days we received a condolence message with no action.

Nowadays hospitals believe in profiteering even at the cost of life. There is no trasparency and they put people on ventilator even when it is not required. Very careless attitude of doctors, nurses and other staff. Again warning you against such malpractices.

Kindly request you to forward this mail to all your friends and relatives and request you to suggest me good lawyer/ agency who could help me in dealing with this situation.

6 comments:

Fortis is not the only hospital here. I have had a personal incident in another major hospital where some one close who was admitted for a dialysis for high sugar levels was provided a cheese sandwich and a gulab jamun in evening the very day. The lack of coordination and empathy from the staff makes you detest the profession and the facility completely at times, yet there is hardly any case where justice is brought upon the people causing negligence.

Hi kj: and the sad part is the no. of ppl who are losing their lives and their money to this kind of riminal activity. It is not uncommon for a hospital to ask for half a million rupees to release the dead body. How sad to lose a loved one and then to not get ther body also. I told my husband that if this ever happens to us, leave the dead body there and refuse to claim it till they bring me back to life. you brought me alive, you will only take me back alive. they can have the corpse. :-)

Chowla Sir: Kitne cases ka legal karenge? If you notice, he says that the other patient in the ICU also died. That hit me really hard.

~nm: You shld not be reading this ... now.. let me get u sth more cheerful to read :-) and i echo ur thoughts.. no one shld have to die like this, and the murderers not only get away scot free, but are also never reported or prosecuted.